Negative keywords exclude search terms from your Google Ads campaigns, so you stop paying for people who can never book, such as those looking for chauffeur jobs. Find them in the search terms report, sorted by cost. Watch the match types: Google says negative keywords do not match close variants, so excluding “jobs” does not exclude “job”. Excluding too much is the usual mistake, so check impressions afterwards.
What do negative keywords do?
They stop your ad from showing for searches you do not want to pay for. Google’s own description is that “negative keywords let you exclude search terms from your campaigns”. A chauffeur company bidding on “chauffeur” can easily end up paying for people looking for chauffeur jobs, a course or a uniform. Each of those clicks costs real money and can never become a booking.
This is one of the cheapest fixes in a Google Ads account, because it spends nothing and shifts your budget towards the searches that can bring work. It also takes less skill than most people expect, since Google shows you the exact searches your money went on.
Where do you find the wrong searches?
Open the search terms report in your Google Ads account. It lists the actual words people typed before they clicked your ad, and they are often not the keywords you chose. Sort by cost, start at the top, and for each line ask one question: could this person book a car and driver from me?
Do this weekly while a campaign is new, because that is when you will find the most waste. Once the list settles, monthly is usually enough. Add a search only when you are sure. If you cannot tell what someone wanted, leave it alone and see whether it repeats.
What usually needs excluding?
Your own list should come from your own report, but these groups tend to show up in chauffeur accounts. Treat them as a starting point to check.
- Jobs and training Chauffeur jobs, driver vacancies, salary, how to become a chauffeur, licence courses.
- A different service Self-drive car hire, buses and coaches, removals, delivery, if you do not offer them.
- Places you do not serve Cities or airports outside your area, which broad matching can bring in.
- Things that are not a trip Toy limousines, car sales, parts, or a film with the word in its title.
Some words need more thought than these. “Taxi” may be a customer who would happily book you, or may be someone who wants the cheapest ride in town. “Cheap” may waste money for a premium company and still bring in good airport work for another. Look at what those searches actually did in your own account before you exclude them, and use the cost per lead guide to judge them by enquiries and bookings.
Competitors’ names are a separate decision. Excluding them saves money if those clicks do not convert, and they sometimes do. Let your own numbers settle it.
How do the match types work?
Negative keywords follow different rules from the keywords you bid on, and this is where most mistakes happen. Google says broad match, the default, means “your ad won’t show if the search contains all your negative keyword terms”, in any order. Phrase match needs “the exact keyword terms in the same order”, with extra words allowed. Exact match needs the same terms in the same order with no extra words.
Here is what each one does with the negative keyword “chauffeur jobs”.
| Search | Broad | Phrase | Exact |
|---|---|---|---|
| chauffeur jobs | Blocked | Blocked | Blocked |
| chauffeur jobs dublin | Blocked | Blocked | Ad can show |
| jobs for a chauffeur | Blocked | Ad can show | Ad can show |
| chauffeur job | Ad can show | Ad can show | Ad can show |
The last line catches people out. Google says negative keywords do not match close variants, so excluding “jobs” does not exclude “job”. Unlike your normal keywords, which stretch to cover plurals and misspellings, a negative keyword covers only what you typed. Add the singular, the plural and any common misspelling separately.
For most lines a single word at broad match is the simple choice: “jobs”, “job”, “vacancies”, “salary”. Use phrase or exact when the word is safe on its own in other searches. “Dublin to Galway bus” should not stop you from showing on every search containing “Dublin”, so exclude the whole phrase or just “bus”.
Where should you add them?
Put them at the level that matches how far the rule applies, because the same word can be wrong in one campaign and right in another.
- Across the account: words that are never your customer, such as jobs and vacancies. Keep them in one shared list and apply it to every campaign.
- In one campaign: words that are wrong for that campaign only. A campaign for your airport route may exclude “wedding”, even though your wedding campaign wants it.
- In one ad group: a way to steer a search to the right ad, for example excluding “golf” in the general ad group so that golf searches reach the golf ad group and its own page.
How can negative keywords go wrong?
The usual mistake is excluding too much, and it is hard to spot because the account does not warn you about the searches it no longer enters. A single broad negative such as “airport” in the wrong list can quietly switch off your best campaign.
- Read the list before adding a word: think of three good searches that contain it. If any would be blocked, narrow the rule to a phrase.
- Watch your impressions afterwards: a sudden fall after you add a list usually points at a word that went too far, so check that first.
- Note why you added each word: then the list can be reviewed in six months, when your services or your area may have changed. A company that starts offering coach work will need to remove “coach”.
Check the results against your budget, too. With less waste the same money reaches more of the right searches, and your cost per enquiry should drift down. If it does not, the waste was smaller than it looked, and the next place to look is the landing page or how fast you reply to enquiries.